What if the TV season never really “ended”, or “started” for that matter?

Fresh from the end of the Hollywood writers strike, NBC Universal says it is moving to a 52-week schedule of staggered program introductions, in an attempt to appeal to advertisers yearning for fresh content to keep viewers tuned in.

It will also break with the traditional way TV networks sell commercial time — the so-called “Upfronts” — instead unveiling its prime-time schedule in a series of one-on-one meetings with advertisers in April.

An ABC executive said that meetings are not exactly ground-breaking. One expert tells TV Decoder that 52-week broadcast schedule may make it more difficult to track the hits and flops, but it is a risk worth taking.

The truth is, networks have been testing the waters with mixed debuts, with shows like ABC’s “Lost” and Fox’s “24″ starting in January, and many other shows launching in the summer months.

Further, fans of cable shows like “The Sopranos”, “Dexter”, and “Battlestar Galactica” are already familiar with shows that start in April, end in June and perhaps return in November.

But the advertising stakes are much higher on prime-time network TV.

(New York Times) (Reuters) (Ad Age )

Keep an eye on:

• MySpace is in talks with music companies to launch an advertising-supported free music service. (paidContent)
• Facebook Chief Revenue Officer Owen Van Natta quits. (Reuters)
• Amazon.com to support Sony’s Blu-ray format too. (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters / NBC Univeral CEO Jeff Zucker)